Slow Burn
Metascore
34 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 14 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 14
  3. Negative: 7 out of 14
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  1. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    88
    Beach blends all the performing styles smoothly: LL's blithe coolness, Blalock's sultry ambiguity, Liotta's slow-boiling intensity, Ejiofor's dapper amiability, Phifer's brooding intensity.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Scott Brown
    58
    A strange, sprained, but sprightly fusion of "The Usual Suspects" and the "Tragic Mulatto," Slow Burn wants badly to turn its standard neo-noir into a nuanced racial chiaroscuro.
  3. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    50
    No one and nothing can be taken at face value in Beach's twisty tale of secrets and lies, which buries its very interesting idea in a welter of ludicrous dialogue and skin-flick imagery.
  4. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    50
    What results are surprises without sustenance.
  5. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    40
    The sort of cheesy thriller that would prove mildly diverting on late-night cable, Slow Burn at least features a terrific cast to enliven its familiar elements.
  6. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Luke Y. Thompson
    40
    Yep, it’s Keyser Soze time.
  7. Variety
    Reviewed by: Eddie Cockrell
    40
    What begins as a moderately interesting set of interconnected mysteries involving race and identity soon grows eye-rollingly laborious, not to mention increasingly derivative of Christopher McQuarrie's "Usual Suspects" script.
  8. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    38
    An amusingly preposterous last act keeps you guessing, or maybe keeps you ducking, as it lets rip an avalanche of startling revelations and double-crosses. Nothing is what it seems - unless it seems cheesy.
  9. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Michelle Kung
    38
    A veritable rip-off of 1995's "The Usual Suspects," Beach's crime caper not-so-subtly apes Bryan Singer's use of multiple red herrings and flashback-heavy interrogation scenes, but lacks the stylistic flair and sophisticated narrative skills to pull off a similar feat of cinematic intrigue.
  10. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Mark Olsen
    30
    Beach's storytelling tactics, much like the film as a whole, would simply be annoying if they weren't also borderline insulting.
  11. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    30
    Shelved for over a year, this incompetent mystery thriller stops periodically so some character or other can deliver an expository speech and pull the plot back on track, but by the end the story has turned into a hair ball.
  12. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    25
    For all it does right, there's something seriously wrong.
  13. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    20
    A wooden police thriller that is as dull as it is impenetrable and ultimately beyond ludicrous.
  14. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Toddy Burton
    11
    The cast, particularly Liotta, walk around with befuddled expressions on their faces, perhaps wondering what on earth they’re doing in this movie and how they can find a new agent ASAP.

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